Here’s How to Tell What Animals Are Digging Up Your Yard and How to Stop Them

If you’re a homeowner, you’ve likely experienced the frustration of seeing your yard dug up by goodness knows what — dogs, moles, snakes … who knows? Holes in your yard are not just an eyesore but a safety hazard. Looking at it another way, though, these holes are also a sign of life on your property. So in this article, we’ll look at what kinds of animals typically burrow in your yard, why they do it, and how to stop them if those signs of a thriving natural habitat are happening in a place where you don’t want them.

Why Do Animals Dig Holes?

Animals dig holes to help them meet their basic needs. Sometimes they’re in search of roots, bulbs, insects, worms, grubs, or ground-nesting mammals, birds, or reptiles. Animals carve out burrows or dens for shelter from the elements and protection from predators. This also gives them a safe place to care for their young until they’re old enough to fend for themselves. They might dig in areas with ground moisture during times of drought to cool off. They dig to hide acorns or uneaten portions of a kill to come back to later, something called carcass caching. They might dig to escape from an area or get to another area, such as digging under a fence. And certainly, when it comes to pets, digging can also be a sign of frustration and anxiety. A pet without enough mental and physical stimulation might work out its energy by digging some truly legendary holes.

How to Tell What’s Digging in Your Yard

It’s not always easy to know what kind of animal might be digging in your yard. Many wild animals tend to come out around dawn and dusk, so if you sit quietly on your porch, you might catch a glimpse of whatever it is. Video doorbells and motion-sensitive cameras can also capture videos of the culprits. Or you can notice the size and shape of tracks in mud or loose soil near the holes, or identify the animal’s droppings based on pictures on the Internet or by consulting with local wildlife officials. Here are some of the typical hole-digging wild animals found in many parts of the United States:

1. Moles

Moles are small mammals found in large areas of North America, Europe, and Asia. They live virtually their entire lives underground. They have soft, velvety fur, tiny eyes and ears, and strong shovel-like front limbs and paws that help them move dirt efficiently as they tunnel. They eat slugs, earthworms, and other kinds of invertebrates. A single mole can tunnel 18 feet an hour when soil conditions are right, creating enormous damage to a lawn.

2. Skunks

Skunks are known for their noxious musk that they use to mark territory and defend themselves from threats. Fortunately, each time they “spray,” it takes 10-14 days for them to “recharge.” If skunks are digging in your yard, it is usually because they are looking for grubs to eat under the sod.

3. Groundhogs

Groundhogs are also called woodchucks. They tend to dig around gardens looking for food: fruits, seeds, and vegetable matter. They also like to dig burrows for shelter near and under decks and crawlspaces of houses, garages, and storage buildings.

4. Gophers

Gophers, or “pocket gophers,” are a common tunneling species similar to moles. You can spot the difference, though, in their visible eyes and ears, large cheek pouches, and long “buck tooth” incisors. There are many species of gophers, and they can be quite a bit larger than moles. If you live in Washington State, note that there are four federally protected subspecies of Mazama pocket gopher. If you have them in your yard, you should call wildlife officials to remove them rather than getting rid of them on your own.

5. Ants

Nearly every ant species creates underground systems of tunnels and rooms that can be complicated and extensive. While their work aerates the soil, it also creates unsightly anthills of soil that kill patches of grass and leave bare spots behind. Their tunnels can cause the soil to dry out and kill grass as well.

6. Owls

Burrowing owls can build their own underground homes, but they often take over burrows built by prairie dogs, squirrels, or other digging animals. They can also create nests in PVC pipes, buckets, or other tunnel-like secluded spaces in human architecture. They use their burrows not only for housing but food storage. In some examples, a homeowner has discovered an owl’s nest along with dozens of decomposing rodents.

7. Chipmunks

Chipmunks are small, energetic little rodents that will dash across your yard so fast you’ll miss them if you blink. They have strong little legs for scampering across your yard and running up trees. They love to pack their extendable cheeks full of food, looking like they’re playing jazz trumpet. Among the animals that dig holes in your yard, this has got to be the cutest.

8. Armadillos

Armadillos live mainly in the southern United States and in Central America. They are covered in leather-like armor and have claws designed for digging. They live in forested areas close to a water source like a stream or pond. They come out mainly at night. They dig burrows that can be 15 feet long, and as they are relatively large creatures, those burrows can even cause sidewalks, driveways and even building foundations to collapse.

9. Rats

Some species of rats prefer to live high off the ground, in trees or attics, for example, while others, such as the Norway rat, burrow near foundations and under shrubbery. Norway rats may establish new burrows throughout the year as their populations grow. As the rats multiply, they add additional tunnels and rooms to accommodate their rapidly growing family. They usually dig down as far as 18 inches, but if they are tunneling next to a foundation, they will go down as deep as four feet to get under the foundation and up into the house.

Stopping Wild Animals from Digging in Your Yard

Here are some general suggestions that might help protect your yard from digging wild animals:

• Remove sources of food, water, and shelter from the yard. Don’t leave out food and water for your dog or cat overnight as it might attract wild animals.
• Apply beneficial nematodes to your yard to control grubs that are a food source for many burrowing animals.
• Regularly seed your lawn with types of grass that have deep root systems. Thick, deeply-rooted turf is harder for burrowing animals to dig through.
• Bury chicken wire or wire mesh around areas you particularly want to protect, such as flower or vegetable gardens.
• Use motion-activated lights, sprinklers, or sonic spikes that make high-frequency noises to deter digging critters.
• You can protect certain plants or areas of the yard by putting down a mixture of water with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, or coffee. Some coffee shops bag up used coffee grounds for customers as they are good for the soil, bad for digging animals, and make your garden smell great!
• Plant marigolds, alliums, daffodils, and others that are effective at repelling some animals, like moles.
• Use solar repellants that use solar power to put out low-frequency sounds that scare off diggers.
• Note that remedies like castor oil or mothballs don’t actually kill digging animals, but just incentivize them to dig alternative tunnels.
• Flushing water down holes and tunnels is an effective way of drowning ants, but it may need to be done repeatedly to get them all. Flooding tunnels of moles and other animals is unlikely to drown them, but can drive them to the surface, where they can be captured or killed.

Putting It All Together

Animals that dig holes in your yard can be a sign that you’ve created an ecosystem there that is attracting wildlife. If that’s one of your goals, then you have to decide whether you can live with the occasional hole or soft spot in the yard from underground burrows. If you’re attracting dangerous or unpleasant animals like rats or skunks, there are plenty of easy things you can try to deter them and keep your yard looking nice and vermin-free.